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Chapter 1549 Final Chapter: Guarding the Shore [33]: "Farewell forever, shall we shake hands?"

"Su Ming'an, I need you to swear an oath," Shen Ming'an said.

"From this day forward, I will only care about myself, focus only on my own strength, and only think about my path to godhood."

"No more looking back, no more longing, no more weakness, no more hesitation."

"—I will no longer connect with...those who have always held me back, those I have to keep saving, and my homeland."

"Su Ming'an, I want you to swear to me that you will live a good life."

……

Su Ming'an, his hands still covered in blood, asked:

"Are you trying to deny me?"

[God, do you want to deny everything about me? Deny the reasons I've come this far?]

[The deity An spreads his hands, lowers his eyelids, revealing a hint of pity:]

……

【"No."】

"...I want to save you."

……

I want to save you.

I want you to value yourself, I want you to reach a shorter end, I want to protect your soul's lifespan, I want to protect you.

"L……"

The warmth of my heart lingered on my fingertips.

Su Ming'an opened his eyes. Shen Ming'an leaned on his shoulder, his skin drained of color, his heart crushed by his own hand. His face was calm and expressionless, his eyelashes drooping silently.

Her snow-white hair cascaded down, swaying gently and quietly, like a white gull hovering in the air.

……I see.

Having gained access to the memories of the deity An, Su Ming'an gently withdrew his hand.

So that's how it is. On the sea-crossing line, I was poisoned by Noel and fought with Noel for control of my consciousness. In the end, although I regained my senses, the Devouring Authority had already consumed too much, which led me to decide to commit suicide and leave the divine peace for the next cosmic cycle.

Crossing the cycle of reincarnation in the universe is an extremely difficult thing.

At first, the god An couldn't remember anything and acted only on instinct. Occasionally, some memories would pop into his mind, until Noel came before him.

“You should have remembered some things by now,” Noel said.

The deity looked back silently, and He did recall a part of the past, remembering how He had fought with Noel for control of consciousness in the previous cosmic cycle.

“But don’t say it aloud.” Noel pointed to the sky: “Someone… is watching.”

"Who?" asked the god An.

“‘They’,” Noel said, “are the people who don’t want this story to end. Once ‘they’ find out that we’re trying to find the best ending, ‘they’ will definitely do everything they can to stop us.”

"Are those people you're talking about really that powerful?" Shenming An asked.

“Well, they may not be that powerful, but they do possess some abilities. If they really try to stop us with all their might, we'll probably be stuck in a vicious cycle again, endlessly,” Noel said.

“I don’t quite understand,” Shenming An said. “But when you say it like that, don’t those people hear you?”

"Have you ever watched variety shows?" Noel suddenly asked.

"Hmm?" Shenming An frowned and replied, "You should have seen it."

“Variety shows always focus on the most important person on screen, right? So, disputes arise among celebrities over who gets more screen time, and some deliberately do things to attract attention. As for more low-key celebrities, they get relatively less screen time,” Noel said.

The god An stopped brewing the black tea, as if he realized what Noel was implying.

The "camera" that Noel refers to is... a "narrative anchor."

The "variety show" that Noel mentioned was a veiled reference to... "everything that is happening to Rovasa."

The "stars" that Noel mentioned were actually referring to... "important figures such as Su Ming'an, Yueyue, Noel, Su Liujin, and Si Que."

When the "narrative anchor" falls on Su Ming'an, everything—whether it's the records of the Book of the World, the gaze of others, or the attention of higher dimensions—will be drawn into this "lens." This is the system rule of Rovasa as a book.

There is only one camera. When the camera is pointed at Su Ming'an, then the situation on Noel's side will not be "recorded".

“I specifically studied the records in the ‘Book of the World’…” Noel said, “After the Eleventh World began, the narrative anchor was basically focused on Su Ming’an. The only times the camera moved away were when ‘Lu Shu woke up from the vampire’ (1214th memory lens), ‘Noel saved Lan Qie in the Mechanical Land’ (1218th memory lens), ‘Su Lin opened an antique shop’ (1219th memory lens), ‘Yamada Machi disguised himself as a maid to assassinate Zhi Li’er’ (1222nd memory lens)…”

"After considering the similarities between these events, I believe that the narrative anchor will only temporarily shift to other characters when the events involving the 'protagonist' Su Ming'an are fully explained and the importance of the events involving other characters increases significantly. For example, instead of recording Su Ming'an and Hui Bai shopping and riding in the cat cart, the narrative anchor will shift to Lu Shu waking up in the vampire clan. Moreover, once the events involving other characters have come to an end, the narrative anchor will return to Su Ming'an."

“So, I deliberately chose to come to you when Su Ming’an was doing something very crucial. This way, I can ensure that the narrative anchor is on him at this moment, and not on the two of us.”

"He is currently speaking with the Mother of Dawn. Our conversation is no more important than his. You can rest assured, it's safer now."

"However, our conversation must be kept discreet, avoiding overly explicit keywords to prevent the narrative anchor from shifting."

Noel's smiling words enlightened the divine being.

— "Avoiding narrative anchors"

In other words, avoid the cameras on variety shows!
While the camera was focused on the glamorous celebrity, the two of them took the opportunity to chat about private topics that wouldn't be recorded by the "camera."

“Interesting.” Shenming An curled his lips into a smile.

Next, Noel hinted at the god An:

“Su Ming’an is unique, and you are a piece of his gene. Why not cooperate with me? My goal is to break this cycle.”

"God An, why can't you break the cycle in his place, even though he knows nothing?"

Shenming An was indeed thinking that since Su Ming'an would continue down this path and go from guarding the shoreline to venturing into the sea, why couldn't he, who was gradually regaining his memories, replace Su Ming'an this time and try to move towards a better future?
Although Su Ming'an is unique, and I am just a piece of gene left over from the last cycle of the universe, I can do better, so why not?
Noel grasped the psychology of the god An's desire to break the cycle, and the two established a cooperative relationship to jointly prevent Su Ming'an from turning into the World Tree.

However, this time, something changed the mind of the god An.

—Under the World Tree, at the moment of the final battle, Su Ming'an launched a battle of words against Shen Ming'an.

When those cold, hard words wrapped around His limbs, piercing His consciousness, countless related memories flooded His mind—

When He saw Su Ming'an open his arms, calmly embracing those vast, scorching, burning, convulsing, and painful words—

When countless past emotions resonated within Him—

He recalled countless memories from his journey.

He remembered the names of countless companions, the hands they had reached out to him, and the expectation in their eyes.

He briefly returned from the indifferent and ruthless "God An" to "Su Ming An".

He began to hesitate.

—Can Su Ming'an alone really not break the cycle? He wants to replace Su Ming'an, and even deprive Su Ming'an of his right to choose. How is this behavior any different from the kind of gods he hates the most?

Having endured so much pain and grief this time, will I still end up with a tragic ending?
Until He finally saw it, at the moment when Nol's Sun Blade approached directly in front of him, Su Ming remained silent, made no defensive move, and pointed the tip of his sword to the right.

He chose to open up a new path for humanity, rather than his own life.

He faced Noel's deadly blade head-on, letting his life turn into liquid and flow away.

At that moment, He seemed to see the moonlight over Daoya City falling into the lake, and He seemed to see the boy disappearing in the Nine Netherworlds. He subconsciously made the same decision.

—It's yours now.

Su Ming'an.

I'll leave the choice to you.

"Click!" The Chain of Noah shone brightly, and the god An closed his eyes, a deathly pain shooting through his chest.

Even though He has forgotten many things, forgotten tears, He still feels familiar with and misses pain; it is something that accompanies Him throughout His life.

The bright red blood stained the white clothes, like the blooming of winter plum blossoms. He burst out with the remaining strength, rushed to the stunned Su Ming'an, grasped his flowing hand, and dug it into his own chest.

—Let him crush his own heart.

"Did you touch it?"

You can have it.

"Before his sun's fire burns me to ashes..."

Su Ming'an.

In my place.

You crushed my heart.

Heading towards the distance.

Don't let "me" appear in front of "you" again.

"Boom."

The knuckles exerted such force, and it was the last time they would exert such force.

There wasn't even a chance to say goodbye.

The god An felt his heart stop beating. He raised his head and finally fell silently into the pure white torrent.

……

In a daze, He heard a gentle male voice.

That sounds like... the sound "I" hear every time the universe returns.

"Determining the world line... Planning the world's ending..."

"Planning complete, game begins."

"Welcome back, Dawn Chaser, player BE3030."

Now, He finally understands...

"Welcome back"—but what exactly does "come back" mean...?

They have indeed "returned" countless times...

……

Under the World Tree.

Su Ming'an gently placed Shen Ming'an's body on the ground, gazing at his hands that were gradually becoming transparent.

It now appears that at least four cycles exist: Cosmic Poincaré Recurrence (Cosmic Cycle) > World Game Over 400 Million Cycles > Rovasa Reset, and Death Rollback.

“It really is…” Su Ming’an muttered to himself, “A long… journey.”

Amidst the white torrent, only his figure, the Cloud City deity, and Nor were visible. Dan Shuang and the others were kept outside the torrent of words.

He has successfully destroyed the World Tree, and the tree transformation progress has reached 99%, seemingly making it impossible to change the future.

Of course, his ideal ending was to save almost everyone by becoming the World Tree.

He glanced at Noel, who resembled a sun, and slowly closed his eyes, feeling the last part of his life being slowly sucked away by the small world, like a silkworm being peeled away from its cocoon...

Goodbye, Noel.

Whatever your purpose, this is the last time we'll see each other.

From now on, I will stand in this small world for a long time, while you will go to the universe.

Never again.

"call……"

Unexpectedly, at the last moment, he felt the sun approaching, and slowly, gently, a hand that still resembled a human was reaching out.

“…It’s goodbye forever, let’s shake hands one last time?” Noel’s weary laughter came from inside the sun.

……

The outcome is already decided; he can no longer stop you.

Did you hold Noel Agnes's hand before leaving?

……

[(Approaching the observation bifurcation point.)]

[(The possibility of not shaking hands with Noel Agni will be discussed in the next memory mirror, "Interlude: After Shaking Hands with Noel")]

[(Observation is crucial; please observe with caution.)]

……